Monday, December 20, 2010

So important you can’t afford not to have it?In a modern economy supported by a super information highway where news is travelling on par with the speed of light, a contingency plan is the single most important part of your strategy.In this landscape we are constantly seeing brands failing when the unexpected, unforeseeable and ultimately inevitable happens. Brands spend a lot of time on creative marketing, management and resources on building the brand that when the proverbial hits the fan they have no options, plan or further resources to implement, so they watch and hope it doesn’t fall too hard.A contingency is a provision for a certain event in the future. This may or may not come to fruition, but if you’re spending precious resources building a brand for a future financial position there is equal as much probability that the unexpected will happen. So develop a contingency that kicks in as soon as the outlook shifts.A contingency plan should:Always be ‘on’ gathering information, data and analytics in the background & foreground. Be relevant to your market and your consumersReach your opinion leaders and brand loyal consumers first (they can take some hard work off your hands)Be revisited as often as sales forecasts (future sales haven’t yet occurred, nor too has the unexpected brand damaging news- they could both occur or not occur)A contingency plan- Think of it as your brands seatbelt.